The NYT Connections hints and answers for August 4 identify Sunday, August 4, 2024, as puzzle #420: KIDDO, UP FOR IT, BEGINNING WITH DOUBLE LETTERS, and NICKNAMES FOR THE SEA, WITH “THE.” The complete word groups are below, with spoilers clearly marked.
Spoiler warning: The answers and category explanations for NYT Connections #420 appear below. Stop at the hint table if you are still solving.
Key takeaways
- NYT Connections #420 is the Sunday, August 4, 2024 puzzle, not an August 4 puzzle from another year.
- The four categories are KIDDO, UP FOR IT, BEGINNING WITH DOUBLE LETTERS, and NICKNAMES FOR THE SEA, WITH “THE.”
- AARDVARK, EERIE, LLAMA, and OOZE are connected by their doubled opening letters: AA, EE, LL, and OO.
- The purple group becomes recognizable when “the” is placed before BLUE, BRINY, DEEP, and DRINK.
- TIGER, DOWN, BLUE, and DRINK are the main traps because each has several strong meanings outside its intended category.
Hints for NYT Connections #420 on August 4
Try these hints before viewing the complete answers. The groups below are arranged from the yellow category to the purple category, following the puzzle’s difficulty colors.
| Color | Hint | Connection type |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Informal words for addressing a child or young person | Meaning and form of address |
| Green | Words meaning willing, agreeable, or ready to participate | Synonyms |
| Blue | Look at the first two letters of each word | Spelling pattern |
| Purple | Add “the” before each word and think of informal or literary names for the sea | Phrase completion |
What are the NYT Connections answers for August 4?
The complete answers for NYT Connections #420, the Sunday, August 4, 2024 puzzle, are listed below. The date and puzzle number are confirmed by the TechRadar answer guide, the Yahoo Entertainment answer guide, and the WordHint archive.
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| Color | Category | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | KIDDO | BUDDY, CHAMP, SPORT, TIGER |
| Green | UP FOR IT | AMENABLE, DOWN, GAME, WILLING |
| Blue | BEGINNING WITH DOUBLE LETTERS | AARDVARK, EERIE, LLAMA, OOZE |
| Purple | NICKNAMES FOR THE SEA, WITH “THE” | BLUE, BRINY, DEEP, DRINK |
The 16 words in the grid were SPORT, DRINK, BLUE, OOZE, DOWN, LLAMA, TIGER, GAME, DEEP, CHAMP, BRINY, EERIE, AMENABLE, AARDVARK, BUDDY, and WILLING.
Why are BUDDY, CHAMP, SPORT, and TIGER together?
BUDDY, CHAMP, SPORT, and TIGER can all work as informal forms of address for a child or young person. “Good job, champ,” “Listen, sport,” and “Hey, kiddo” use the same friendly, familiar register, although the category does not require the word KIDDO itself to appear in the grid.
TIGER is the yellow group’s main red herring. The word naturally suggests an animal, while BUDDY, CHAMP, and SPORT also have many unrelated meanings. In this puzzle, TIGER belongs with the other informal terms of address rather than with an animal-based group.
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What does the green UP FOR IT category mean?
AMENABLE, DOWN, GAME, and WILLING all express agreement, readiness, or willingness to participate. Someone who is “amenable” is agreeable, someone who is “willing” is ready to do something, and someone who is “game” or “down” is prepared to join in.
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DOWN is deceptive because its everyday meanings include a direction, a lower position, sadness, and soft feathers. Connections uses the less literal sense of “down”: willing or agreeable, as in “I’m down to try it.”
Why are AARDVARK, EERIE, LLAMA, and OOZE together?
AARDVARK, EERIE, LLAMA, and OOZE all begin with doubled letters. Their opening pairs are AA, EE, LL, and OO, making this the puzzle’s orthographic or spelling-based connection rather than a meaning-based one.
This blue group is often the easiest set to identify once the solver stops asking what the words mean. AARDVARK, EERIE, LLAMA, and OOZE have little semantic connection, but their first two characters immediately reveal the shared pattern.
What is the purple category in Connections #420?
The purple category is NICKNAMES FOR THE SEA, WITH “THE”: BLUE, BRINY, DEEP, and DRINK. Adding “the” produces the expressions the blue, the briny, the deep, and the drink, each of which can refer informally, poetically, or idiomatically to the sea or ocean.
| Grid word | Phrase | How it refers to the sea |
|---|---|---|
| BLUE | the blue | A poetic or informal reference to the open sea |
| BRINY | the briny | A familiar expression for salt water or the sea |
| DEEP | the deep | A literary reference to deep ocean waters |
| DRINK | the drink | An idiomatic expression meaning the sea or water |
BLUE and DRINK are particularly misleading. Blue is a color and drink is a beverage, but both become sea-related when paired with “the.” The phrase mechanism is the key to solving the purple group.
Which Connections groups are easiest to spot?
The four categories differ in how visible their links are. The doubled-letter group is directly visible in the spellings, while the purple group requires the solver to complete phrases. The yellow and green groups depend on interpreting words by meaning and resisting their more familiar alternative uses.
| Category | Connection type | Visibility | Red-herring risk | Likely solving issue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEGINNING WITH DOUBLE LETTERS | Orthographic | High once the first letters are inspected | Low | Semantic thinking can hide the pattern |
| KIDDO | Semantic; informal address | Moderate | High, especially with TIGER | Words have many unrelated meanings |
| UP FOR IT | Synonym-based | Moderate | High, especially with DOWN | DOWN is usually read spatially or emotionally |
| NICKNAMES FOR THE SEA, WITH “THE” | Phrase-based | Low until “the” is supplied | High, especially with BLUE and DRINK | The words do not look sea-related by themselves |
Is August 4 Connections #420 from 2024?
Yes. NYT Connections #420 is the puzzle published on Sunday, August 4, 2024. “August 4” without a year is ambiguous, so the puzzle number is important: the consulted archives match #420 to 2024, not August 4, 2025 or August 4, 2026.
The New York Times Help Center also provides information about Connections and archived progress, including how a New York Times account relates to a player’s game history. Check the official Connections Help Center article for the current archive and account details.
Want more Connections puzzles?
Readers who enjoy the category-matching format can continue offline with the Connections puzzle book published by Simon & Schuster. The publisher describes it as a physical collection built around the Connections format; the listing does not establish that the book contains puzzle #420, so it should not be treated as an archive of this specific grid. Availability, edition, price, and retailer stock can change.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is August 4 Connections #420 from 2024?
Yes. NYT Connections #420 is the Sunday, August 4, 2024 puzzle. The puzzle number distinguishes it from any August 4 grid published in another year.
What is the purple category in Connections #420?
The purple category is NICKNAMES FOR THE SEA, WITH “THE”: BLUE, BRINY, DEEP, and DRINK. The phrases are “the blue,” “the briny,” “the deep,” and “the drink.”
Why are AARDVARK, EERIE, LLAMA, and OOZE together?
AARDVARK, EERIE, LLAMA, and OOZE begin with doubled letters: AA, EE, LL, and OO. Their connection is based on spelling rather than meaning.
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NYT Connections #420 was the August 4, 2024 puzzle. Its solution is KIDDO, UP FOR IT, BEGINNING WITH DOUBLE LETTERS, and NICKNAMES FOR THE SEA, WITH “THE,” with the biggest traps coming from TIGER, DOWN, BLUE, and DRINK.
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